


What a Mask-erpiece!

by Reactive_Noble_Gas



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, oh gosh i have no clue how to use this site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:03:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5412680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reactive_Noble_Gas/pseuds/Reactive_Noble_Gas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone was going to find out eventually, even though they worked so hard to keep it a secret. From stress to hilarity to happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What a Mask-erpiece!

Crap, crap, crap, crap, _crap!_

Chat’s legs just wouldn’t move faster as he bolted for the nearest alley, corner, _anything_ before the frightening beeping came to an end and he was exposed. 

Running through an occupied alley, Chat ripped open one of the doors of the building to his right, praying for once his bad luck wouldn’t kick in and he’d be able to get away without anyone seeing. Just as he felt his legs loosen up as the leather faded to jeans, he slammed the door shut behind him, heaving a sigh of relief. 

Until he looked up. 

Alya stood there, mouth agape as she took her change from the cashier after paying for her ice cream. Which she promptly dropped in shock. The breath caught in his throat and he nearly choked. 

Adrien frantically looked around the room, praying no one else in this tiny ice cream parlour saw him, but it seemed like Alya was the only one. 

He didn’t know if that was luck or bad luck. But he did know Alya knowing his identity wasn’t the luckiest thing to happen. 

“Uh, mademoiselle? Do you want me to replace your…” the cashier trailed off as Alya slowly approached Adrien, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him back outside. 

“Uh… hey Alya, that was just a, um, costume? My dad wanted me to model a… Chat Noir inspired line?” 

She shoved him against a wall with surprising strength, placed her hands on her hips, and glared up at the very-much-in-trouble boy. “Don’t waste your breath. I’m not gonna buy any of that.” 

“Is there any way I can convince you to believe otherwise?” 

“Nope.” 

“But you can’t tell anyone!” 

“I’m not going tell anyone. Why would I?” 

“I don’t know!” 

Alya sighed and took a step back. “You know, I never would have guessed any of this. You _do_ resemble him, and I remember putting a Chat costume on a picture of you before--” 

“ _Wait_ , you did _what??_ ” 

“But your personalities… they don’t match. At all.” 

“What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?” Adrien asked, growing more bewildered than upset and devastated. 

“You -- Adrien -- are so sophisticated, cool, and… polite? Is that the word?” 

“And you’re saying Chat isn’t polite?” Adrien found himself getting _very_ defensive. He’s never been compared to himself before and it felt weird. 

“No no no! Chat is very respectful, but not as flirtatious. I guess reserved is a better word. You’re much quieter and less, uh, flamboyant. I don’t think that’s the right word either.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be eloquent, what with being a blogger and all?” 

“Yeah, but the author of this fic isn’t,” Alya said. 

“Wat?” 

“;D” 

Adrien sighed. “Well? Now what?” 

“Now what, indeed,” Alya said, pulling her phone out. 

“No! Don’t! Please don’t tell anyone!” Adrien cried out, reaching out for her phone. 

“Relax! I’m not telling anyone, I just told you I wouldn’t.” 

“Then what are you doing?” 

“Texting Marinette.” 

“What? Why?” Adrien glared at Alya. 

“Because you’re going to do some things for me, and these things involve Marinette.” 

“And what if I refuse?” Adrien asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear exactly what Alya would do. 

“Well, let’s just say I now have a piece of information Marinette would _love_ to know, if you catch my drift,” she replied, pocketing her phone. 

“You just said you wouldn’t tell anyone! And that includes your best friend!” Adrien cried out, growing increasingly frustrated and worried. _What in the world will become of Chat Noir??_

“I won’t tell her, so long as you follow my requests.” Well, more like demands, but does it matter? 

“What kind of requests…?” 

*~*~*

Marinette sighed contently to herself. She was on time for class, not _running_ late, Adrien was sitting right in front of her looking _dash_ ing as always, and Alya was grinning like a fool, having promised her best friend a surprise. Plus, she’s been doing excellent in physics, something she could show off to Adrien. 

“Hey Marinette!” The girl in question jumped when Adrien turned around to greet her. 

“Uhhh. Hi! Hi Adrien!!” Marinette beamed at him, wondering what she had done to have the gods smile down at her and bless her with this beauty today. Maybe it was cleansing that akuma last night. 

“Wow, nice job on the physics test! I only got an 85, but you did really well!” he said, pointing to her own 94. 

“Eh he he, I- I guess angular momentum is just something I get!” she replied, with remarkably less stuttering. 

“Yeah, it shows! I did a lot better on the electricity test, but I think that was an easy one,” Adrien confided. He knew he did _ohm_ -mazing on that one because of his obsession with robots. 

“No! N-not at all! I barely made a 75 on that one! Trust me, it was hard, you’re just really smart!” Marinette blurted out, instantly regretting it. 

“Haha, I wouldn’t say that. I only like physics. I suck at chem and bio.” 

“Hey, Marinette, aren’t you doing really good in chemistry? Maybe you could help Adrien out a little!” Alya chimed in, leaning closer to the two and grinning knowingly at each of them. 

“Yeah! Marinette, if you have time, we could get together and study. You help me out, and I’ll help you,” Adrien encouraged, smiling at her. This, of course, caused Marinette’s heart to melt, and the poor girl barely spluttered out a small affirmative noise. 

*~*~*

“A-Alya!” Marinette called out to her friend, rushing to catch up with her before she was out of earshot. 

“Hm? What’s up, Mari?” Alya knew exactly what was up, but Marinette didn’t need to know that. 

“I- I have no clue what to do! Adrien suddenly talks to me, and I don’t get it, he’s so cool, I see stars when he smiles at me, I’m not going to be able to teach him a thing!” She bit her lip before leaning in to grab her friend’s shoulders. “I am going to _die_ , Alya! I can’t do this!” 

“Relax, girl! You’ll be fine. I’m sure Adrien will understand your shortcomings.” 

“Hey!” 

“What? Am I supposed to lie to you? Okay, Adrien will probably kiss you and tell you he only has eyes for you and get you delicious coffee with whipped cream on top and wipe away the stray cream on your cheek with his _tongue_ …” 

“ALYA! Don’t say things like that!” Marinette yelped, burying her steaming face in her hands. 

“Relax! You two will only be talking about chemistry, which is so _Bohr_ -ing, it makes me _Neils_ over with pain, I'm not sorry for the puns." Alya grinned as Marinette groaned and placed her and on her forehead, shaking her head with disappointment. "But seriously, _nothing_ embarrassing will happen, unless you start punning while he's trying to learn about entropy," Alya reassured. “So, did you decide on a meeting date with him?” 

“N-no? Weren’t you going to take care of that for me?” Marinette asked, looking away as the poked her two index fingers against each other. 

“Wow, Mari. Do I have to do everything?” Alya chided. 

“What do you mean everything?” 

“Um, nothing…” Alya muttered, walking away from Marinette very quickly. 

*~*~*

_“So you want me to flirt with her?” Adrien asked, narrowing his eyes at the redhead._

_“In a way, yes, but not like Chat. You need to get friendly with her, bring up a topic that you both can work or collaborate on. Find a way to get chummy up with her,” Alya said, crossing her arms as she stepped back to study Adrien._

_“Like schoolwork?”_

_“Hmm… that could be a start, but you’d need to escalate things eventually. She does have a massive crush on you.”_

_“I’ll never understand why. I mean, yeah, Chloe likes me, but I’m pretty sure that’s for my money. Marinette’s the only one who has expressed any interest in me,” Adrien murmured, picturing Marinette in his mind’s eye, smiling sweetly at him. She was really cute, and he’d never had a girl friend before, so he wasn’t against trying this out._

_“She likes you because you’re so good natured and attractive.” Adrien cocked an eyebrow at her. “Mari’s words, not mine. Anyway, please help her out! The poor girl has been lovestruck with you for ages, and every time you acknowledge her, she flips out and won’t stop thinking about you!”_

_“I didn’t realize she thought so highly of me… I feel kind of bad now. I want to get to know her, first.”_

_“Then start tomorrow,” Alya said._

Of course, Adrien completely forgot to ask her when she wanted to meet, but he smiled down at his phone. Marinette’s number is safely stored in his phone, courtesy of Rose, and he was rather looking forward to texting her. 

But the screams coming from the other side of the street caught his attention, the new villain hovering over a group of civilians. 

Adrien quickly pulled Plagg off to the side, initiating his transformation. He bounded out from behind a parked car as Chat Noir, hoping Ladybug got here eventually. 

*~*~*

Marinette quickly turned towards the screaming, biting her lip in worry. After Alya had left, she had heard a ruckus, and the designer had run towards the noise, seeing the new akuma. She ducked behind a tree and transformed quickly. 

She didn’t count on the fact that Alya may have run to this scene to catch everything from the source for her Ladyblog. She didn’t count on the fact that Alya was watching everything, and dropped her phone _just_ as Marinette transformed, giving her ample time and zero obstructions to see the entire scene. 

Alya screamed. Ladybug yelped. Alya abandoned her phone and ran away, holding her head and letting out small bursts of screaming. 

*~*~*

“What’s the matter, My Lady?” Chat asked Ladybug as she glared grimly at the sky after the akuma had been purified. 

“I-I screwed up Chat,” Ladybug whispered. 

"What do you mean? Is it something major?" Chat asked, dropping his playful attitude immediately after hearing the somber tone of his partner. 

"Mm," she replied, looking down at her hands, biting on her lip when she heard the first beep of her miraculous. Time just seemed to fly after she used Lucky Charm. 

"I-if you need to go now, you can tell me later," Chat expressed his concern. 

"No, I... Chat, someone saw me. They know who I am, the civilian me!" Ladybug looked up at her partner, worry etched on her face. 

“Wait, someone saw you transform??” he asked incredulously. 

“Yeah. I know them personally, and so far, I’ve trusted them. But now I just don’t know!” Ladybug winced when her miraculous beeped a second time. “I haven’t talked to them, but they’re really talkative and are bound to tell _someone_. I- I don’t want to confront them, I’m afraid they’ll hate me for not telling them.” 

“My Lady, I’m sure they’ll understand. I was in a similar situation earlier, where I didn’t know if I could trust someone with a secret they accidentally found out. But we reached a… compromise, if you could call it that. They agreed to not tell anyone, and they haven’t so far!” More beeping. “You’d better hurry away, your miraculous is about to run out…” 

Ladybug sighed and tossed her yo-yo at a nearby sign before leaping onto the roofs from it and running away. 

Chat released his own transformation when he was sure no one was looking. 

“Why didn’t you tell her you went through the same thing?” Plagg asked Adrien after he sat down on a bench, phone in hand to call his driver. 

“Because then she’d worry for me, or maybe even blame me? I don’t want either option, because then Ladybug has her own worries. I don’t want to add mine on.” 

“Don’t try to be the hero. Be the partner you are. You two are equals and you need her support as much as she needs yours,” Plagg said to him, uncharacteristically wise and caring. 

Adrien smiled at his kwami and patted his small head, remembering this obnoxious cat still cared for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is my first ever fanfic in like 4 years, so forgive my roughness, it's just that this show is awful, it's ruined my life, I love it. Also, it's my first time using AO3 for writing purposes and I have no idea how I'm supposed to do stuff. Forgive moi.


End file.
